The following invention relates to nail guns which deliver nails into structures to be fastened with the nails, such as planar building materials. More particularly, this invention relates to assemblies which are attachable to a nail gun to support the nail gun directly adjacent a surface to be nailed and with a user controlling the position and operation of the nail gun from a convenient location remote from the nail gun, such as standing erect upon the surface being nailed. The carriage assembly of this invention can be configured to attach to an existing nail gun or be incorporated into the design of the nail gun itself to form a single integrated mechanism.
To enhance the efficiency of framing wooden buildings and other structures, framers and carpentry professionals often use a nail gun as an at least partial replacement for a hammer. Such nail guns deliver a nail into the structure with power most typically supplied by compressed air from a compressor or other compressed air supply. One such nail gun known in the prior art is made by the Hitachi Company of Japan under the model number xe2x80x9cNV 83Axe2x80x9d and referred to as a xe2x80x9c3xc2xc inch coil nailer.xe2x80x9d The nail gun is operated by placing a muzzle of the nail gun adjacent a location where a nail is desired and then pulling a trigger adjacent a grip of the nail gun to cause a nail to be delivered out of the muzzle with sufficient force to drive the nail into the structure. A magazine is typically attached to the nail gun and sequentially feeds nails into the nail gun for subsequent delivery.
Many common structural members used in framing a building are planar in nature, including plywood, oriented strand board, and other planar lumber. Such planar building materials are often used to provide flooring, walls and roofing structure for a building. Nails are utilized to attach these planar building materials to underlying studs, joists and other structural members of the building. Nail guns are particularly useful in quickly executing the repetitive process of driving nails into such planar building materials along the perimeter and regions over underlying structural members.
One drawback of utilizing a nail gun is the substantial weight of the nail gun and associated magazine. This weight is particularly undesirable when using the nail gun on flooring and roofing because the carpenter or other user is typically required to stand on the surface to be nailed and awkwardly bend down to hold the nail gun adjacent the surface upon which the carpenter is standing.
Additionally, different structural applications for planar building materials specify different optimal spacings between adjacent nails. The closer actual nail spacing matches the optimal spacing, the quicker a structure of adequate strength can be created, with fewer nails required. Accordingly, a need exists for an assembly to carry a nail gun along a surface which facilitates operation of the nail gun by a user while the user is standing erect on the same surface being nailed. Such an assembly would additionally benefit from facilitating precise spacing of adjacent nails relative to each other with a distance matching an optimal spacing specified for the application to which the planar building material is being directed.
This invention provides a nail gun carriage which is attachable to a nail. gun and supports the nail gun in proper position relative to an underlying planar structure to effectively deliver a nail into the underlying structure. The carriage facilitates remote firing and position control of the nail gun by a user while the user stands erect upon the surface being nailed. The nail gun carriage includes at least one wheel or other bearing support coupled, either directly or indirectly through other structures, to the nail gun. The wheel or other bearing support is located and oriented relative to a muzzle of the nail gun so that the wheel or other bearing support can roll or slide along the underlying structure, such as planar building material to be nailed, with the muzzle of the nail gun located and oriented for proper firing of a nail into the structure.
Preferably, a frame is slidably attached to the nail gun and rotatably supports the wheel. Alignment brackets can be affixed to the nail gun and include pins which slide within slots in the frame such that the nail gun is limited to linear motion parallel to a firing axis of the nail gun. In this way, a recoil action exhibited by the nail gun immediately after firing a nail is accommodated, and the wheel or other bearing support of the carriage is allowed to remain adjacent the planar structure being nailed. Preferably, a spring is provided to bias the nail gun to its desired position with the muzzle directly adjacent the surface to be nailed before firing a nail.
The nail gun carriage additionally features an extension handle, preferably in the form of an elongate pole, which is coupled at least indirectly to the nail gun. Most preferably, a grip bracket is attached to a grip of the nail gun with the grip bracket accommodating attachment of the pole to the grip bracket. The pole can attach to the grip bracket in one of a variety of different orientations which give the pole a variety of different angular orientations relative to the nail gun and nail gun carriage. A carpenter or other user can then grasp an end of the pole opposite the grip bracket and have control over the positioning and movement of the nail gun and nail gun carriage. The pole is sufficiently long so the user can stand erect on the same surface that is being nailed by the nail gun with the nail gun carriage of this invention resting upon this surface.
The nail gun is fired in at least two different ways. First, a manual trigger can be included near an end of the pole opposite the grip bracket attached to the nail gun. This manual trigger is coupled via a cable to the gun trigger so that when the manual trigger is toggled by the user the trigger of the nail gun is actuated. The remote firing of the nail gun by the user at the opposite end of the pole is thus accomplished.
A second firing mechanism provides automatic firing as the nail gun carriage travels over a predetermined distance on the structure being nailed. Such an automatic trigger actuator could take a variety of different forms to measure the distance over which the nail gun carriage has traveled. A user could select a desired spacing between nails (i.e. four inches) so that the nail gun fires a nail when that desired distance has been traveled by the nail gun carriage. Uniform spacing of the nails is thus provided. One form of automatic trigger actuator includes a flexible axle coupled at one end to the wheel of the nail gun carriage and at the other end to a cam adjacent the gun trigger of the nail gun. As the wheel of the nail gun carriage rotates, a lobe on the cam rotates and toggles the gun trigger. The diameter of the wheel can be selected to provide the desired spacing between nails. A transmission can be included along the flexible axle to allow a user to vary an amount of rotation out of the transmission and affect the rate of rotation of the cam and hence the distance traveled between consecutive firings of the nail gun.
Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a nail gun carriage which allows a nail gun to be operated adjacent a structure to be nailed while a user is remote from the nail gun.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a nail gun carriage which holds the nail gun at a proper position and orientation relative to an adjacent structure to be nailed.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a nail gun carriage which can move along a planar surface to be nailed with the user controlling the position of the nail gun remotely.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a nail gun carriage which facilitates firing of nails into a planar surface with a user controlling the position of the nail gun while the user stands erect upon the surface being nailed.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a nail gun support assembly which holds the nail gun adjacent a surface to be nailed and accommodates recoil of the nail gun after firing and return of the nail gun to proper orientation for delivery of subsequent nails.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a nail gun support assembly which is configured to automatically fire a nail from the nail gun when a predetermined distance has been traveled by the nail gun adjacent a surface to be nailed.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a nail gun which can rest upon an underlying planar surface and be moved over the underlying planar surface by a user standing erect upon the underlying planar surface with nails being fired from the nail gun into the underlying planar surface.
Other further objects of the present invention will become apparent from a careful reading of the included drawing figures, the claims and detailed description of the invention.